The Travels of Arrietty The Borrower
by Aza Sira
Summary: Arrietty is separated from her family in a storm. She finds herself in a library, with other borrowers. After making some new friends she sets off on the journey of the borrower century. Sho most likely will NOT make an appearance but may change based on what my reviewers say. Hint hint.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Storm

Arrietty felt positively sick, as their kettle-boat swayed back and forth in the stormy waters. Her mother had already fainted. Her father was atop the kettle with Spiller, trying to keep it afloat. Arrietty slammed against the side of the kettle and got even more bruised than she was before. Wincing, she tried to climb up to the top to try and help her father and Spiller. The wind roared and it raining hard.

Once she got to the top, they slammed into a log. Arrietty screamed as she flew off the kettle and into the water. It was icy cold and dark. She struggled against the merciless water. Her lungs burned from lack of air. She grabbed hold of a reed that dipped under water and held n for dear life.

She hauled herself up to get a gulp of air, before going back under. Slowly, painfully Arrietty climbed up the reed and onto the shore. It was muddy and the rain continued to pelt down on her. She took a look to the rainy sky through the tree leaves and the world went dark.

When she awoke, it was still drizzling. Arrietty looked around herself, she was in a wooded area. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, nor any sign of them. Off in the distance she saw a human house. Filled with new energy at the prospect of a meal and other borrowers, she went in the direction of the house. Everything was wet and muddy. The ground was an orange, clay color and was very slick. There were birds everywhere twittering to each other, which made Arrietty a bit nervous. She finally came to the house. There were no signs of any other borrowers there, which made Arrietty's spirits droop a bit. There was however, a doggie door. This made her both nervous and brightened at the same time. Nervous, because that meant there was probably a dog, which was dangerous. Brightened, because she could now get out of the rain. Arrietty slipped through the door and stepped into a kitchen. There was a brown haired girl cooking eggs over the stove and coffee brewing in the coffee maker. Arrietty slipped past the girl and into what she guessed was the pantry. She heard someone coming and slipped a bag, full of books.

Someone came and picked up the bag and started carrying away. Arrietty became even more bruised and battered.  
"Well, this is just fantastic." She muttered to herself.

Arrietty heard a door open and an engine come to life. After a long and painful ride, someone picked the bag back up and began to walk.

Then a human hand reached into the bag and began to pull out several books drop them somewhere. Arrietty scrambled into a side pocket. Soon the bag was empty and the person carrying the bag soon set it down on something. Arrietty climbed and carefully looked around. There was a bookshelf nearby. Arrietty quickly jumped down to one of the chairs and and onto the floor. It was a hard fall and Arrietty eyes stung with tears, but she quickly ran to the bookshelf. She slipped between some books and found a narrow, borrower-sized hallway sort of space between books. Arrietty walked along these for quite some time until she saw...

Another borrower.

**OK. I know, I know. Its a short chapter. The next one will come sooner than you expect. I promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Extinction? You've gotta be kidding!

Arrietty stared dumbfounded. Another borrower? She had almost come to believe Sho in that borrowers were a dying races of creatures. The other borrower was a little taller than Arrietty. It was a boy, with a darker complexion and blue eyes with black hair.

He stared at her with equal surprise, she was muddy and battered. Her hair looked like it had just gone through a hurricane. ( Which on the borrower scale, she had )

"Ummm.." He started, awkwardly. "I presume you're not from around here?"

"Yeah. I kinda got separated from my family and there was a storm and I ended up here? Where is here, anyway? And who are you for that matter? Are there lots of borrowers here?"

Arrietty's questions started slowly and gained speed as she continued. The boy looked confused.

"Well, to answer all your questions. This is the Lanier Theological Library. I'm Derek. There's two borrower families here. Ummm we're always looking for new people, so I guess we could head over there? What's your name? " He said.

"Arrietty. So where is everybody?" She replied

"This way. Come on." He turned and began to stride to the edge of the shelf. Arrietty followed him. Derek went to the outer part of the shelf, where the books were. He gripped the spine of a book and slid down it.

"Are you coming?" He called up. Arrietty crawled on the pages and attempted to slide down. She fell. Arrietty felt like there was some higher power intentionally trying to kill by bruising. Derek looked down at her sympathetically.

"Sorry, I should have realized that you might be used to doing that. At least we're on the ground floor, though." He said, finishing brightly.

"Uhhhh."Arrietty groaned as she hauled herself up. "I suppose we should get a move on."

Derek nodded. "Yeah. That's a good idea. This way." He gestured for her to follow him. She complied. They walked through a shadowy hallway that had alcoves on the sides. There were large pieces of machinery tables.

"What are those?" Arrietty asked in awe. There wasn't anything like them in Sadako's house.

"Those are the old copy and fax machines." Derek said without a second glance. They came to the end of the hallway. There was a balcony overlooking a huge room. Derek took Arrietty to the edge of the balcony. She nearly fainted at at the sight. (By human standards it was about four stories high.) There huge wooden bookshelves everywhere filled with books. Rich rugs covered the floors. There was a long glass case with scroll fragments in it. Other glass cases contained historical artifacts thousands of years old. A mosiac was plastered on one wall in front of the glass case containing the scroll fragments. The walls were paneled with rich wood. Tall cathedral-like windows let light in a calm, peaceful way. Arrietty gasped and clutched at the balcony pole beside her. She had never in her life seen such splendor. It was all too much. HEr breath became short and her face turned pale. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

"You okay?" Derek looked at her ashen face with concern. He gently eased her away from the edge. Arrietty caught her breath and the colour came back to her face.

"T-that was amazing. Thank you Derek."She said softly.

"Come on. I see my sister ahead. Want to meet her?" He said with a grin.

"Of course!" Arrietty exclaimed. "I would love too."

"Then let's go! " Derek returned with equal verve. Then he looked up and yelled. (There were no humans nearby)

"Hey! Kimi! C'mere!" The girl looked down and began to quickly slide down the book spines at what seemed to be breakneck speeds. She speedily got down and landed perfectly.

"Hi. Derek, who is this?" She asked confused. Arrietty was suddenly once again very aware of her bedraggled appearance.

"Kimi, meet Arrietty. Arrietty, meet my sister Kimi." Derek said with a flourish. Kimi rolled her eyes.

"Nice to meet you Arrietty. My full name is Kimiko. I'll go tell the others we have a new arrival." She said.

And that was how Arrietty came to the Lanier Theological Library Borrower turned out that borrowers were going on a large scale 'grouping'. Basically that more and more borrowers were banding together in places just like this. Extinction wasn't happening ANYTIME soon.

Later that night, after meeting everybody. She lay in her bed listening to Kimi snore. Arrietty thought about her parents and Spiller. What happened to them? Were they okay? Was her mother nearly dead from grief? All sorts of thoughts pulsed through her head until she finally fell asleep.

As she slept, she dreamed. Her dreams were not pleasant. They involved pain in some way or another. Her family drowning in the storm. Sho's operation go terribly wrong. Ambush from other borrowers. Finally she woke in a cold sweat. Crying softly, she drifted back to sleep. Arrietty didn't dream again that night, but the source of her dreams were far from gone.

**Ok. This one is a little short too. I'm trying, okay? Fyi the Lanier Theological Library is a real place. EVERYTHING described in it is really there. Its a private library, so not anybody can just go there. Also there will be no romantic stuff going on with Sho and Arrietty. Just to clear. Arrietty still cares about him obviously, but nothing goes any further. Arrietty also has some depression due to the fact that she just lost her parents, for all she knows. Ok. Now that thats all out of the way: PLEASE PLEASE review. I need to kn ow what I'm right or wrong, If Arrietty's being OOC or grammer, spelling. I still haven't fully decided where the story's going to go, so the reviewers at this point have a huge part to play. YOU could decide whether or not Sho shows up! Or anything else for that matter**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Skies

Arrietty woke in the morning, feeling sore all over. Kimi was already up and braiding her hair for the day.

"You're finally up. I assume you don't have any clothes execpt the ones you had on you back when you got here. So mom got some out of my closet for you to wear today for as long as you or until your dress gets cleaned. " Kimi stated as she always did, with perfect clarity amnd a matter-of-fact attitude. Arrietty looked at her options for clothing and was interested by what she saw. Kimi had laid out a dark green blouse, tan pants, boots, and a pair of fingerless gloves indentical to what Kimi, Derek, and everybody else wore despite it being the height of summer.

"Why does everybody wear these gloves?" Arrietty asked. Kimi just stated:

"Easier to spine-slide if you're wearing those." Arrietty nodded, finding a new respect for the gloves. after she changed. Kimi was was sitting on her bed.

"Oh good. You're out. I suppose you want some breakfast for the day?" She said.

"Yeah. I do. What's for breakfast?"

"Come on, I'll show you." With that Kimi took Arrietty down to the kitchen where Kimi and Derek's mom was stirring a pot of something. Arrietty peeked into the pot and found that it was a kind of soup.

"Good morning, Arrie. Do you mind if I call Arrie?" She said cheerfully. "I always nickname people. That's why Kimiko is called Kimi by almost everybody." Arrietty felt sick to her stomach. It such a painful reminder of Spiller, that Arriett

"Yeah." She said shakily. "It okay." Her voice cracked a little bit near the end. She quickly cleared her throat to cover herself. Kimi didn't seem to buy it. After they ate, Kimi stretched and said;

"If you're done eating, Arrietty, we can go now." Arrietty nodded her consent.

Kimi took Arrietty to a room full of borrower-sized books and maps. She took a scroll out from a shelf and handed Arrietty a scroll. "This is your map. You'll here on the Lanier Estate. Trust me" Kimi said said. There was a long pause. "So, want to try your hand at flying." Kimi said with a grin. "Would I? Of course! Is that even possible?!" Arrietty breathed out with a gasp.

"'Course it is. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked if you wanted to do it." Kimi responded simply. Arrietty couldn't wait to start. Flying. Was it really possible? She was about to find out.

Kimi took her to the top of the Library (Which was an incredible as were). The wind blew a bit strongly, so Arrietty had to struggle a bit with keeping her footing. Kimi had brought with her two staff looking things. "Ok, so here's how its done." Kimi then snapped open her own glider and jumped off the roof. Arrietty gasped and screamed; "Kimi!" But Kimi was flying! Well, not exactly flying persay, gliding really. She soared and looped screaming wildly in the air. Finally, she touched down. Breathless, she said: "Its your turn. No tricks, okay?" Arrietty nodded. "Is your parachute on?" Kimi asked. "Yeah, its on alright."

"Let me check it." Kimi checked to make sure everything was in place. "Just run off and hang on to your glider. Let the wind guide your movements and do not try anything tricky. Understand?"

Arrietty nodded. Then Kimi snapped open her own glider and looked ready to take off again. Arrietty stared at her. "What? I'm gliding too. There's not rule that says two people can't glide at the same time." Kimi said, a bit defensively. Arrietty nodded. Then she ran, with her glider open. She could feel every heartbeat, like the world had gone silent. She felt her muscles tense and relax. Arrietty felt like time itself had gone still when she jumped. The feeling was terrifying and amazing on two completely different and yet mutually exchangeable. She screamed as the wind ripped through her lungs. Arrietty soared high with the winds rising and falling. Finally, she tried to turn back to the roof and found that it was much, much further than she thought. Not only that, but it would mean going against the winds. Kimi had told her to what to do against the winds, she had to maneuver with them. She'd seen Kimi do it, it was like an intricate dance, back, forth, twist, turn. So Arrietty attempted it. She soon found out that it was much harder than she had expected it to be. The twisted and turning required incredible strength in the abs. She continued to fight though. But, the winds were merciless. Just as she began to progress, the winds brutally pushed her back to where she started. Worse still, it would sometimes push her down too, so she had to fight for control. Then, the worst happened.

Arrietty's glider snapped.

As she fell, they world seemed to go silent around her. She saw the faces of her family, Homily, her mother. Pod, her father. Spiller, her friend. And Kami. She tried desperately to to pull her chut, but couldn't reach the strings. So she closed her eyes and prepared for the impact.

Then, she stopped falling. Arrietty felt someones arms around her waist. She opened her eyes. Kimi had caught her and pulled open her own chute. They fell slowly. When they landed Arrietty collapsed on the ground. Her body couldn't take any more. She couldn't even stand up. Kimi looked tired as well.

"Arrietty. Are you okay?" She asked, concern clear in her voice.

"I...I can't move. Yesterday... I-I got hurt ….a lot...and today with the winds and everything... I don't think I can take any more." She weakly groaned.

"I see." Was all Kimi said. Then without another word, she picked Arrietty up and started carrying her towards a house that was just a bar area to the humans. At the side of the wall, Kimi pressed something and a door slide open. She walked inside and the door slide shut behind her. She walked without saying a word the entire time. The tunnel was lined with glowing blue stones that lit the way. Arrietty felt a jolt of pain with every step Kimi took while carrying her. It wasn't long before she passed out.  
When she awoke, she was laying in her bed, back in the library. She simply sat there, content, until the door opened and another girl walked in. She had short auburn hair and bright, green eyes. Arrietty had met her last night. Her name was Leem. She had a tray in her hands filled with food. There was tea and soup, complete with a side salad. Leem set it on Arrietty's bed.

"Thank you, Leem." Arreitty said. There was a long pause. "How long was I out?"

"About four hours." Leem replied. "Oh, and Kimi wants to know if you want to play a game of Go."

"What's Go?" Arrietty said, digging into her soup.

"You don't know what Go is?" Leem said, her eyes wide with shock, her jaw dropped.

"Umm no. Is it really popular or something." Arrietty said, looking into her soup, sheepishly.

"Yeah, its the only board game I've ever played, actually." Leem looked at the floor sheepishly.

A knock came at the door. "Come in." Leem called.

It was Kimi. She was carrying a square board and a small bag that Arrietty guessed carried pieces. Leem and walked out after saying a quick good-bye.

"Do you want to play?" Kimi asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't know how but I'll give it a shot." Arrietty said slowly.

"Ok." Kimi then explained the rules of the game. Then they played. While they played there was a long, awkward silence. Finally, Kimi broke it.

"So... Who's Spiller and Sho?" Arrietty's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She gasped.

"UMM uh why.. I mean how did you know their names? Have you heard some news about them? Are they okay?!" It all rushed out in a gasp.

"Umm I haven't heard anything, really. You talk in your sleep." Kimi said looking a bit startled . "So, who are they?" Kimi asked again.

"Well, Spiller is another borrower who lives in the woods. Sho is a being who I'm freinds with." Arrietty said, sadly.

"Wait. You make friends with beings too?" Kimi gasped.

"Yeah. Sho's the only one..Wait you said 'too' Do you make friends with beings too?" Arrietty gasped. Kimi's face darkened.

"Yeah," She said bitterly "I did once. The outcome wasn't pretty." Arrietty hesitated, then asked.

"What happened?"

Kimi just looked at her, the steel in her eyes.

"You don't want to know."

And she walked out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Fall

Arrietty couldn't help but wonder about what Kimi had said. She healed slowly. Arrietty would often read the books is the library. She loved the Greek and Roman sections especially. Often she would play Go with Kimi. Kimi never told her what had happened between her and a being other than that she had tried to befriend one. Finally, one day she was ready to try flying again. She and Kimi went up to the roof again. Arrietty took off again. This time she flew without incident. After landing successfully, Kimi turned to her and said;

"Well done, looks like you're ready for the sparrows." Arrietty's eyes popped. Kimi smirked.

"What?! You fly sparrows too?!" She gasped as her jaw dropped.

"Yup." Kimi's voice turned serious "It's a secret so don't tell anybody, Derek's the one who knows about it besides you and me." Arrietty nodded.

"Of course."

"Excellent. Come on." She waved her hand for Arrietty to follow her. Arrietty complied.

They began to walk towards one of the buildings. Kimi pushed one of the secret buttons and a door Arrietty hadn't seen before opened. Kimi and Arrietty walked into it. Instead of the luminescent blue stones that lit the other paths, this one had none. Instead, Kimi pulled out a borrower sort of flashlight, similar to the one Arrietty's father had. Where the other tunnels had been smooth and finished this one was rough and dirty. The tunnel wound about. After what felt like an eternity, they finally came to an end. Kimi knocked lightly on a wooden trap door. Derek's muffled voice answered her.

"Who knocks at the garden gate?"

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries." Kimi answered.

The door opened and they climbed through it. Derek was at the top waiting for them.

"Hey guys, I don't think it's a very good idea to go flying today. I went and I think there's a storm brewing." His brows furrowed.

"It's probably nothing but some clouds. Did you pack the supplies?" She said, her voice turning stern.

"No I didn't." Derek said. Kimi opened her mouth to say something.

"DUH. I got the supplies. Who do you think I am, Kimi?" he finished, laughing.

"Wait a sec." Arrietty broke in "Why do we have supplies? I thought this was a small flight." She was really puzzled.

"We always pack supplies in case something happens, Arrietty." Derek replied.  
"Ummm ok. If you say so."

"IF that's settled, then I suggest we get moving." Kimi said, exasperated.

With that the three teenagers began to get ready for the flight. Well, more like two teenagers, since Arrietty didn't really know how to get the sparrows ready. Yes, they absolutely were going to fly sparrows. Arrietty was nearly bursting with excitement.

Finally, they were ready. The light breeze that had been pleasant before had turned into a strong wind. Derek looked especially worried.

"Kimi, I'm not so sure if this is a good time to fly." HE said worriedly.

"It'll be fine, We've flown so many times in the wind." Derek considered this.

"You're right. It'll be fine." He said finally.

With that Kimi, Derek, and Arrietty took off. It was absolutely fantastic. Arrietty could feel the birds heartbeats as they flew. Her own heart was thumping so hard she thought her chest would explode. They soared high above the trees. This was completely different from gliding. Where gliding simply went with the winds, flying a sparrow meant that one turn of the reins could mean an entirely different direction. Arrietty gripped her reins so tight her knuckles turned white. Kimi and Derek flew high into the clouds, Arrietty followed them as best she could. When she had caught up to them, a gale-strong blast of wind followed by heavy pelts of rain knocked them all below. Kimi was flung completely of her bird, which squawked in indignation and promptly flew away.

Arrietty jumped off her bird and snapped open her glider. The winds were stronger than she'd ever faced, but to her it was no matter. Kimi was falling and she needed to be saved.

Meanwhile, Derek had grabbed the bag of supplies and was attempting to put it on his back when a predator hawk swooped in to take out his bird. He yelled and jumped off his bird and snapped open his own glider. (They had all brought one in case of stuff like this.) His only thought was;

"Supplies! I got 'em."

Arrietty still going as fast as she could toward Kimi, who was screaming at the top of her lungs. Finally, she caught up to her. Arrietty grabbed hold of her waist and tried to land. They were just hitting the tree line. Arrietty snagged her glider onto a branch and hung there, thirty feet off the ground. To Arrietty and Kimi it was a dizzying height. Arrietty's glider was snagged between two branches, she held on with one hand, the other clasped around Kimi's. The wind seemed to blow even harder at them, the rain seemed to pelt down with more ferocity.

Suddenly they heard Derek's "Oooff's" and "ouches" as he tried to get down to them.

Derek was battered and beaten when he finally let go of his glider and grabbed hold of a branch. He then climbed down to join his sister and Arrietty. He gasped when he saw the condition they were in. Derek climbed to fork where Arrietty's glider hung looking ready to snap.

Kimi had by now stopped completely panicking and had climbed another branch and was about to help Arrietty do the same, when Derek came busting in.

Derek Grabbed Arrietty's hand and pulled her up, Arrietty helped by pushing her hand against the fork in the branches. Unfortunately, it was a little too much force when she put her foot against the fork too and she fell on top of Derek. It hurt for both of them, especially Derek.

Quickly pushing each other off, they proceeded to rejoin Kimi, who was steadily climbing down.

After they had all gotten down with a lot of bruising and Arrietty's poor glider broken. How they did it was quite simple; after getting to the lowest branch possible, they all grabbed hold off Arrietty's glider and swooped to the ground. The usage of the glider was to minimize the pain upon impact. It didn't really work.

Either way, the important thing that they were on the ground, alive. Kimi and Derek had somehow been able to make a fire and they all sat around it, bruised and battered. Finally, Arrietty broke the silence.

"So, where _are _we?" She wondered, worried. Kimi sighed.

"I honestly have no idea. But it's a good guess that we may not see the Library for a long time, possibly forever." Arrietty felt like crying. She thought she may have finally found a second home and now it was very possibly ripped from her. Just like Sho, her parents and Spiller. She curled into a fetal position and tried not to cry. It didn't work.

"Arrietty? Are you okay?" Derek asked in a concerned voice. Arrietty wiped her eyes.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She said, her voice cracking.

"You know we'll always be here for you." He continued and Kimi nodded in agreement. This just made Arrietty cry harder from realization of the fact that her family was still here. Kimi and Derek were her family now. Not too long after she fell asleep. But it wasn't a dreamless sleep by any meaning of the phrase.

In her dream, she was falling again. This time Kimi and Derek were falling with her. Instead of a forest or plain below, there was a roiling pit of water. Arrietty hit the water. It was icy cold, like the creek she had been thrown into. She gasped for air and looked for the surface, but there was nothing but inky blackness all around her. No Kimi, no Derek. Just her drowning and falling. Arrietty couldn't tell which way was up or down. Her lungs burned with lack of air. She opened her mouth in a scream, but no sound came out. The water rushed into her lungs, like a wild beast's claws, raking through her body. Suddenly, she was awake, gasping for air and sweating vigorously.

Derek still had his hand on her shoulder, a worried expression on his face. The fire had gone down to a few embers that smoked faintly.

"Are you okay?" He said finally. Arrietty sat up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She croaked. Ugh, even her voice was dry.

But Arrietty knew she was anything but fine.

"You want to talk about it?" Derek asked.

"No. But I don't think I'll be able to sleep, though. Thanks for asking, Derek" She said.

"Ok. You want to eat something?"

"Sure." Derek dug around in his pack and produced a piece of beef jerky. Arrietty accepted it thankfully.

"So…um How many hours until dawn?" She asked as it was still dark

"I'd guess about three, maybe four."

" I wonder if everybody back at the Library is going nuts or what."

"Yeah, they probably are" Derek's voice cracked. Arrietty realized that the Library was where his family was as well as all his friends and everything he had ever known. She placed her hand on his arm.

"Hey, we'll get out of this, I'm sure Kimi will know where we are by morning." She tried to reassure him.

But deep in their hearts, they both knew that they weren't going to be seeing the Library anytime soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Emotional Aftermath

Arrietty eventually fell asleep that night. When she awoke the next morning, she felt something on top of her. That something was stirring along with her, too. She opened her bleary eyes and found herself leaning on Derek's shoulder. Derek's head was on top of hers. Both of their eyes snapped open and they bolted away from each other. Arrietty and Derek's faces were red with embarrassment. Arrietty opened her mouth to say Something but was interrupted by a deep, throaty chuckle coming from Kimi, who was bearing several berries.

"If you two lovebirds are done over there. I have brea_" She laughed, but was cut off by Derek bounding to her and yelling;

"FOOD!" His eyes were wide with joy at the food. Kimi gave him her deluxe you-are-nuts look.

"Hey. Save some for Arrie. K?" Kimi said. Arrietty felt her gut tighten at the usage of Spiller's nickname for her. Kimi noticed her sad face. Then she remembered how that nickname meant something special to her. Arrietty nonetheless was glad of a distraction from her embarrassing wake-up. She blushed lightly at the thought. Derek was tearing through his breakfast with all the gusto in the world. Arrietty walked up to Kimi and picked up a berry where they lay on the ground. "Thanks for picking these up, Kimi."Arrietty said genuinely. She bit into one. The tart, sweet, juice exploded across her tongue…..and her face.

"These are delicious!" She exclaimed. Kimi smiled and bit into one herself. There was a long pause filled by the sounds of them eating, although it was mostly just Derek making noises as well as a mess.

"So, did you find out where we are?" Arrietty asked after she had eaten her fill. Derek stopped his munching and looked at Kimi hopefully. Kimi sighed and looked down.

"No, I didn't find out anything other than we're far, _far_ away from home."

Derek felt crushed and depressed. They were feelings he beginning to get used to. First, there was the crushing feeling he had when Kimi had almost died and now in the realization of the fact that they probably would never see home again. The depression had sunk in around the campfire when he couldn't sleep. Then Arrietty wouldn't even tell him what was bugging her so much that she would have nightmares about. Now even Kimi, the Queen of the Woods, didn't even have a single clue as to where they were. As he thought, the depression began to give way to anger. HE felt so, so angry at where they were, how much his body and mind hurt from yesterday's events. His brows knit together and before he knew what he was doing, he had crushed the berry in his hands and was stopping off in a rage. He vaguely heard Kimi calling him back from their campsite, but he was too angry to care. "Derek?" He spun on his heel, and stood face-to-face with Arrietty and his sister. Arrietty looked sympathetic, but Kimi looked anything but that.

"What do you want?" He grumbled. Kimi opened her mouth, chastisement on her tongue, but she was cut off by Arrietty.

"Derek. We understand you're upset. But this is not the way to go about thi-"She was abruptly cut off by Derek.

"Oh it isn't. I know. But can't you please just let me vent, okay? You don't have to get on your high horse with me Arrietty!" Arrietty looked a bit stunned and Kimi looked ready to beat the crap out him for this.

"Like either of you know anything." He finished, mumbling out his conclusion. Now Arrietty looked about ready to burst.

"I don't know anything about this sort of stuff?! Are you nuts, Derek!? I have just lost not one, but two, TWO families in the space of a year! Don't you DARE tell me I don't know anything! I'll talk to you when you've come to your senses, but not before!"

With that Arrietty marched off. Derek felt horrible. He, as usual, didn't think before he spoke. He had been so angry at this whole predicament that it had ended up being taken out on Arrietty. And the fact that Kimi still looked like she wanted to teach him a lesson the painful way didn't make it any better. "Derek, if you EVER say something like to her again, I will beat the living heck out you." Derek nodded.

"Good, now that we've made that clear enough, I'll be leaving you to your tantrums." She huffed as she walked away.

Kimi was feeling more frustrated than she had in a long time. From an early age she had trained herself to be relatively apathetic. Not to the point where she didn't care about anything or anybody, but to the point in which her judgment was almost never clouded by emotions. But these past two days were beginning to weigh heavily on her. First, there had been the fall. Kimi shivered the thought. Never in her life had she experienced such icy, burning terror. She had never been afraid of any height. Even when she fallen from her glider when she was child, she hadn't been that afraid. Why? Because she had a parachute. Her father had told her that as long as she had a good parachute, she would never need to fear the skies. But as she had grown older and more skilled at all things that flew, she became overconfident. This was clearly evidenced by her fall yesterday. Kimi sat down by the ashes of the fire and continued to think. Then Arrietty had come out of the blue and grabbed her from certain death. However glad she was to be alive, the many bruises all over her reminded her of the fall through the trees. Kimi sighed and came to the realization that she might just end up as the only thing keeping this little group together. It was obvious that the raging emotions were putting everyone on edge. She just hoped that edge wouldn't become sharp enough to tear them apart.

Arrietty was mad. Mad enough to shoot hateful words at her best friend's brother. How dare he accuse her of not understanding the tragedy they were in! She understood as well as him if not better for that matter. Hadn't she lost her parents, Sho, and Spiller all in the course of a few days? Hadn't her actions caused her family to abandon all that was familiar and start over? NO, Derek DEFINALTY did not have grounds to accuse of misunderstanding. All she had wanted to do was try to calm him down so they could start thinking together. Arrietty plunked down on a stick. Her heart ached for those she had left behind. Suddenly, the tears rose unbidden to her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks as she thought of Sho and how desperately he had wanted to befriend her and find out more about borrowers. She thought of her parents and how they had warned her not to further her relationship with Sho. Oh how she wished she had listened to them! If she had then she wouldn't even be here. She thought of Spiller and his awkwardness that was so endearing to her. All the memories had so much pain in them. She couldn't seem to let go. It was like she was waiting for her

Parents, for Sho, For Spiller. But deep down inside she knew that she most likely never see them again. Then Arrietty cried until she got a splitting headache.

After everyone had their lovely emotion fest, they all gathered back at the remains of the campfire to discuss what to do, now that the going back to the Library was out, due to the fact that they had no idea where it was.

"Ok," Kimi started uneasily, "My vote is that we try to find a source of water, then we build transportation to use that water and hopefully we can either find somewhere familiar and get home or find a place to live, preferably with other borrowers." She had put a lot of thought into it, in the hopes of it getting accepted. It seemed to work. Arrietty and Derek both grunted in agreement. Kimi let out a sigh of relief. This wasn't going to be a grudge fest, or was it. Arrietty and Derek still weren't on speaking terms. She knew Derek wanted to be on speaking terms, but Arrietty wasn't ready yet. Not that she could blame her, though. Derek _had _said some pretty nasty stuff and by Arrietty's red, puffy eyes, probably cut old wounds deep than before and opened new ones. Kimi sighed again.

"Well, if its settled, then we should get going." Kimi said again. Derek and Arrietty nodded. So they set off. Thankfully, part of the supplies were some canteens that Derek had filled with dew earlier that morning. Kimi turned around and faced Arrietty and Derek and signaled for them to follow her lead. She had scouted out this direction earlier while Derek and Arrietty were asleep. She shook her head. Only this morning they had been at ease with each other to fall asleep on top on each other. Now, they could barely look each other in the eye without anger or regret clouding their features.

Derek could feel the tension that lay between him and Arrietty. He sighed. He just wanted to be at peace with her. The way her face had contorted into rage and pain still haunted him and made him wince. Finally, after about two hours of silent walking, he cleared his throat.

"Umm Arrietty?" He said sheepishly, his face growing red. "I ummm just uh wanted to apologize for this morning. Will….you.. forgive me?" He barely got out due to Arrietty's intense stares. She smiled.

"Of course."

They all breathed a sigh of relief that they were finally together again.

**Yeah. This was a really emotional chapter. I kinda meant it to be that way so that the characters aren't icy cold. Another point of this chapter was to show the outlook of the other characters. Also, you may notice that Kimi seems to be the leader. That's because she is. Kimi's 19, compared to Derek being 16 and Arrietty being 15, so Kimi's the leader.**

**Your Author,**

**~Aza Sira**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Why Snakes Are Evil

Arrietty, Derek, and Kimi trudged through the foliage on the forest floor. The sun beat down on them mercilessly and they felt like they were sweating buckets. Arrietty wiped her and paused to catch her breath. Derek and Kimi followed suit.

"Kimi," Arrietty panted "Do you have any-" She paused as Kimi stood straight up and seemed to be listening hard to something else. She pointed north.

"I can hear water down this way." She said, excited. She began to run wildly. Arrietty and Derek rushed in the direction Kimi was running. The thought of a drink was refreshing enough to give them the adrenaline rush to get to it. Suddenly, Kimi stopped. Arrietty and Derek fan straight into her.

"Hey, what's the big idea, Kimi!" Derek shouted. Kimi whirled around and clamped a hand on his mouth. Her face was dead serious.

"Shut. Up. Now." She said with a finality that brooked no argument. Then she turned and pointed to a tree root. Arrietty gasped and her went white all the way to lips. Derek was the same way. It wasn't the tree root that had them scared clean out of their wits, but what was _on _the tree root. There lay a large coiled snake. Its eyes had a bluish sheen, which was an indicator that it was shedding its skin. In fact, there already was a large amount of skin laying around.

Snakes are a borrowers worst nightmare, because one bite and you're dead. Borrowers may be afraid of toads, beings, cats, dogs and the list goes on. But snakes will always be the worst. Arrietty trembled at the thought of what would happen if the snake woke up. Kimi began to move quietly towards the stream, which they could all hear. They got there successfully. The banks were steep and Arrietty realized they would have to climb down them to get to the water. The banks were steep and a sandy color. Tree roots, leaves, sticks and lots of little snaky-looking holes were on it. Kimi began to climb down the roots slowly and carefully. Arrietty began to climb after her and Derek. The roots were steep and slick as Arrietty, Derek, and Kimi continued to climb down them. A cricket scuttled past them. Below the water was very swift, like raging rapids to the borrowers.

Soon the root came to an end and they were faced with a decision on what they were going to do.

"I think we can climb down using the moss and holes." Kimi started,

"Kimi that's too dangerous. There could well be snakes in those holes. We've all heard stories of borrowers dying due to stupid plans like that. " Derek paused. "We already know there's snakes around here." He said quietly.

"Then how else are we supposed to get down there?" Kimi threw back.

"What _are _we going to do if we actually get there?" Arrietty unexpectedly chimed in. Kimi and Derek both looked at her for a long moment. Kimi cleared her throat.

"We get a stick. Then we start floating along until we get somewhere that's not out in the middle of nowhere. The question is," She said, throwing a pointed look at Derek, "how to _get_ down there."

Kimi and Derek started throwing ideas and precautions back and forth again. Arrietty sat down on her root. She was getting so tired of all this. She started to walk around on her root again.

Arrietty kept practicing walking on a particularly slick part of the root, when they all saw it. The snake. It had come out of its slumber and was stalking them. Kimi and Derek froze. Arrietty looked around wildly. There were plenty of roots going horizontally, but none going down far enough to reach the river.

At the speed of lightening, the snake pounced! It flew toward Kimi and Derek. They both jumped out of the way. Kimi drew her sword, it was short and deadly sharp. Only a few adults were permitted to carry them. Arrietty hadn't noticed it until now. The sheath was closely attached to Kimi's pant leg.

The snake was not to be thwarted so easily. It coiled up again and prepared to strike. At Arrietty. She couldn't feel or hear anything. Everything happened as if in slow motion. The snake lunged. As it did Arrietty did the only thing she could think of to do. She ran. And she ran straight into Derek. They both tumbled off the root. The snake passed right over them. As Arrietty and Derek fell, Derek grabbed hold off a root and held on for all he was worth. Arrietty held onto him in the same way. Then Kimi jumped in delivered a solid slice to the Snake's neck. It hissed in pain and lunged at Kimi. She just barely got out of the way. The snake turned and tried to bite her again. This time Kimi was not so lucky. The snake didn't bite her, but as she was jumping out of the way, it hit her hard with its nose, effectively knocking the wind out of her. She gasped and fell down, landing on a thick root. Arrietty and Derek (Who by this point were standing on the root) Heard a sickening crunch as Kimi's ribs broke. The snake seemed to turn its attention to them with its evil reptile eyes. It pounced on Arrietty and Derek.

"I'll go for the sword!" Arrietty yelled to Derek. HE didn't really respond. Then again he was dodging a snake that wanted to eat him, his sister, and his friend for lunch.

Arrietty got down to the root where Kimi lay, moaning.

"Arrietty? Get the sword…I …can't.." Kimi gasped and winced. Arrietty realized that Kimi's back was probably broken too. She took the sword out of Kimi's hand as gently as she could. Then she turned back to Derek and the snake. Derek was dodging it well enough, but he was running out of stream and root. Soon the snake would overpower and corner him. Arrietty didn't want to think about the outcome of that. She rushed as fast as she could to Derek. Once she was there, she tried to slice its tail off. Blood –_snake_ blood- splattered all over her. The snake hissed and spun around on her, attempting to kill her. Arrietty gathered up all her courage and strength.

And she severed the snake's head from its body.

The body slumped down. Then it began to twitch and shake violently. Arrietty and Derek were thrown into the steam. It, like the previous stream Arrietty had been in, was bitter cold. Derek slammed into her on their way down. They held on tight as the water washed them away. Derek and Arrietty struggled violently to swim without losing each other. Finally they found a stick floating in the rapid water and clung to it for dear life. Then they tried to go back for Kimi. Their attempts failed miserably. They almost drowned-again. After sputtering and breathing for a while. Arrietty's thoughts turned to Kimi. She looked at Derek and judging by the somber look on his face he was thinking the same thing. For a while they were swept along by the current. Then she began to cry. Arrietty didn't stop for a long time.

**Okay, not as long as I wanted, but did you guys think of the fight scene? I had a really hard time writing that one. I felt like Kimi was getting kinda Mary Sueish so I decided to crack her shell a little bit. Is she dead? Well maybe. I actually haven't decided yet. So please for the love of all things good, PLEASE tell me what you think via review or if you found out about this via the G+ Studio Ghibli page, you can tell me in the comments section.**

**Your Author**

**~Aza Sira**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

Derek and Arrietty floated along the stream in silence. Neither could stop thinking about Kimi. Arrietty couldn't believe she had been beaten, even if it was a snake. Kimi had always been to Arrietty a titan. Fearless, bold, and brave. She wasn't afraid of anything. Not the sky, not birds or beasts of the woods. Not even the beings. Now she was gone, probably dead with her back and ribs broken.

Derek couldn't stop thinking about her either. She was his sister, she always, _always_ better than him at everything. He'd never resented her, though. Now she was gone and nothing could fill the aching in his heart.

The day slowly passed. Arrietty and Derek washed up on a tiny beach of sorts in the stream. There was nothing around them. Their stomachs growled and they realized that all the food was back where they had left Kimi. Arrietty sighed.

"Do you think she'll be okay." Arrietty asked as she turned to Derek, trying not to break down again.

Derek looked devastated. "I don't know. But we should find shelter soon." He was right. The sun was setting in the west. Arrietty and Derek paddled their stick as best they could to a sand bar. Arrietty flopped on the sand, exhausted from the day's events. She looked up toward the sky. It was painted orange and purple.

_Purple was Kimi's favourite color. _The thought brought even more sadness to her mind. But it also made her more determined not to let her be forgotten.

**Yeah that was the shortest chapter ever. I'm really sorry. Thing is I'm going through some seroius writers block. I literally have no idea where to take the story next. Which is why I really, really need reviews. Come on, as of today there are 150 peeps reading this. I just need one review to give an idea. Just one idea. (As long as its feasible) If you have questions or comments I WILL answer them in the post script. Morgman, you are awesome and I am a HUGE fan of your fics. Just so you know. So, Please. Please. Review. **

**Your Author,**

**~Aza Sira**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

Arrietty woke with her back aching from the previous day's activity's strains. She stretched and sighed. Looking around she saw Derek sitting on a root with his feet dangling in the water. She walked over to him.

"Hey." She said softly. He looked at her.

"Hey"

"Derek, what are we going to eat?" Arrietty winced inwardly. She felt so insensitive toward Derek right after his sister had probably died. But they both knew food was essential to their survival. Derek looked at the water.

"I don't know." Derek kept his gaze on the water. He couldn't face Arrietty. She was depending on him to help them get out of here and somewhere safe. Somewhere where they wouldn't have to worry about snakes and dying in the middle of nowhere.

Arrietty bit her lip and sighed. This was going nowhere. She thought, _Maybe if I get him to start thinking we can come up with something! I miss Kimi…. _She sincerely did, Kimi always knew exactly what to do. Arrietty sat down next to Derek.

"Derek, can I ask you something? About Kimi?" She mentally kicked herself savagely. Derek looked at her incredulously.

"Ask away."

"Why is Kimi so angry at the beings?" Derek flinched at her question. He looked at the water again.

"Because they betrayed her. Us really." Arrietty's eyes widened. Kimi had been in contact with beings?!

"What happened?" She blurted out. Derek sighed and cleared his throat.

"Well, we didn't always live at the library. We used to live in a house in a place called Chicago. It's really, really far away. It took us a year to get down here in Texas. Anyway, when Kimi was really young she was curious about the beings. She didn't understand why we hid from them. To her they seemed just like other people like us. So she became friends with one of them. She was a girl named Elise. Elise was eleven years old. Kimi was the same age. Kimi and Elise hit off really well. They were a lot alike in a lot of ways. They both loved the sky. Kimi and Elise would go stargazing sometimes together. Elise even designed the gliders Kimi built at the library. My parents never found out. I think it was her way of holding onto the fact that Elise meant well. I think she still loved Elise, even after everything that happened. My parents knew about their friendship and gave it their stamp of approval. They shouldn't have. Elise told her parents about our existence one day. They forced Elise to tell them where we. See, they viewed us as a parasite. Arrietty looked confused. Derek explained, "A parasite is a harmful life form that lives off its host life form by taking nutrients and stuff. I guess we still fall under that definition but still. They pretty much my entire family. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandparents. They used rat poison."

They sat in silence for a long time. Arrietty felt heartbroken by Derek's story. Now she fully realized how blessed she was to have had the friendship with Sho. He hadn't turned her in or endangered her purposefully. The reason Haru had found them was because he had tried to help them, not hurt them.

"You know, the reason Kimi invested in learning to fight was because she felt so vulnerable after the incident." Derek quietly added. They sat there for a long time. Finally Derek cleared his throat.

"We should go." Was all he said. Arrietty numbly nodded her head in agreement. With that they went in pursuit of a suitable stick to use as a boat. After finding one they set out in the creek again. They floated to a waterfall of sorts and became stuck. Derek tried to get off and wedge them out but was quickly was swept under the raging current.

"Derek!" Arrietty screamed frantically at the top of her lungs. Then the stick snapped. Arrietty went tumbling into the stream and was swept under the vicious current. While she under she Derek through the murky waters. He was stuck beneath a branch underwater. Arrietty swam closer to try and pull him up. Reaching down she took his hand tried to pull him up. Her lungs were on fire and she wanted to open and scream with all her strength. Finally, Derek came loose. They rushed to the top gasping for air. _Life. Breath. _ Arrietty smiled as she breathed in the life giving oxygen. Then she laughed. Derek looked at her like she was insane and then slowly he began to laugh as well. The joy of being alive over took them and they hysterically. Finally, they stopped and swam to a sand strip that had the remnants of a tree covered in toadstools. Laying on her back, Arrietty looked up at the sky and the fluffy white clouds that meandered slowly rolled across it. She breathed deep again and realized how good it was to be alive and not dying painfully in a murky creek with her lungs bathed in fire. Arrietty began to laugh quietly again. Derek propped himself up on one elbow and stared at her and shook his head.

"What is it with you and the laughing today" He said with a smirk. Arrietty smiled back up at him.

"Because it's good to be alive." She chuckled back at him. He fell down on his back again. His face saddened.

"I wished Kimi were here. Laughing with us." Arrietty immediately felt sad and guilty about herself. Derek got up and dusted himself off.

"We should get moving." His voice was rough with emotion. Arrietty felt her energy drain away. They found another stick, this one much sturdier. They floated along the swift current until they came to a bend that sort of pooled of to the side. There was an enormous log sitting in one corner. A enormous red slider turtle basked on it. Arrietty gasped. It was easily the size of one of Sadako's dinner plates. Thankfully, it didn't see them. Derek looked back at Arrietty. Even though her light brown hair was matted and tangled, her bright dark brown eyes portrayed her awe and fear well enough. There was a great crashing noise from above and voices. The voices of beings. Arrietty whipped around to face Derek. She was clearly terrified.

Derek began to paddle furiously _towards _ the voices not away from them. Arrietty caught onto his plan and began to paddle with gusto. Quickly, they climbed up some roots that jutted down from the side of the creek. When they had reached the top, panting heavily they heard the beings voices come near. There were six of them. Arrietty was shocked she had thought there was five, but one of them scarcely made a sound. The two biggest, though were the loudest, especially the olive-skinned, dark haired one was most certainly the loudest. Whenever he laughed Arrietty winced. Derek began to creep towards them. He seemed to be focused on something in particular. Arrietty searched the group of teens, but could find nothing until she noticed that the quiet girl had a leather backpack. Quickly and quietly they moved ahead of the group. Climbing a tree, they waited, the quiet girl talked quite loudly even though her footsteps were quiet. She tried to tell a joke and was laughed at in return by the three older ones. She fell behind the rest. _Perfect. _Arrietty thought. Then when she came right under their branch, they jumped. The girl flinched. They quickly hid within the bag. Arrietty quickly realized how utterly heavy Derek was when he was on top of her. They rode in this way all the way to a house. They climbed out, quite sore. They found themselves beside a honey-colored shelf and a door. The group of teen and kids stood around in a kitchen laughing and chatting. Derek and Arrietty dashed to a shelf filled with DVDs and a large flat screen TV at the top. They climbed atop the first row of DVDs and slide in between them and the wall. Arrietty and Derek felt their way to the end of the shelf and slipped out into the hallway. They dashed into a bedroom that messier than Arrietty had seen in her life. Ducking under the bed they saw that it was just as messy as under the bed as it was around it. Toys, books, notebooks, and clothes were strewn everywhere. It was perfect. Arrietty and Derek smiled at each other.

Here was the perfect hiding place.

**Ok so this chapter was a bit hard to write, so review and tell me what you think. Also big thanks to TAOIII for being the best beta ever!**

**Your Author,**

**~Aza Sira**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Food

Arrietty and Derek beds out the discarded clothing on the floor under the bed. Finally wrapped up in something warm and comfortable, she felt finally safe. Before falling asleep, she began to think of all the things that had happened to her since she had been separated from her family. First there was meeting Derek and being welcomed in the Library. She smiled at the kindness they had shown to her. Then she shuddered at the recollection of falling from the sky and the pain that had followed. After a examination it had turned out that she had torn several muscles on her fall. It had laid her up for nearly three months. Kimi had the kindness to play at least one game of go a day. Other than that, though she had been accompanied by others too. Leem, Derek, and two other borrowers named Sayu and Light also kept her company. A tear rolled down her cheek. Just when she thought that she might have another home, it too was snatched away from her. It made her think, was there such a thing as a higher power in all this? It was on such happy thoughts that she drifted to sleep. However, her dreams were anything but pleasant. She dreamed she was drowning again. This time everything around her was a blinding white. The water, instead of being icy cold, was burning hot. Arrietty could practically feel herself being scalded to death. Suddenly, she wasn't in the water anymore. Now she was falling, but instead of falling from the sky, she was falling through inky darkness. Here it was freezing cold instead of burning hot. Arrietty felt the cold rip through herself as she fell. There seemed to be no end to the pain of the icy wind ripping through her wounds. She screamed with the howling wind.

Suddenly, she was awake, tangled in her wrapping. She calmed and pulled herself out. Standing up, she was still breathing heavily and her head was spinning. Arrietty took in several deep breaths as she calmed herself. Finally, she looked around her. The floor was as messy as ever and she could hear Derek snoring loudly. She carefully made her way to the foot of the bed. Here, she heard more snoring, this time coming from the two being above her. There was a window with three plants on the sill. The sun was coming up over the woods. Suddenly, a loud ringing sounded and Arrietty jumped in alarm. Dashing back under the bed, she waited, scared. She heard a being jump, or rather slide-flop to the floor and stopped the ringing, which was coming from a small handheld device. She shoved it in her pocket and stopped out the door. The second being remained asleep.

"What was that?" Arrietty squeaked in surprise and whirled around to face Derek.

"I-it was just some kind of alarm." She squeaked out. Derek nodded.

"How many do you think are awake?" He asked. Arrietty shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe we should go and find out? And get something new wear." She said, wrinkling her nose at the condition of her tattered apparel. Derek just nodded.

"That would be a good idea…"He said thoughtfully, "But I think food would be a better idea at the moment." Arrietty rolled her eyes. _He's __**never **__full, it seems." _She thought. Although she agreed with him nonetheless. So they both went to the door. It was shut, but that wasn't a problem as there was space enough under it for them to crawl. They found themselves in the hallway once again. Carefully, they hugged the wall as they made their way towards the kitchen. Stopping at the shelf with the TV they looked carefully before them. No other beings seemed to be up other than the one who just had. Arrietty could see her doing something on the stove. Derek pulled her into a corner and quickly whispered,

"The Fridge." Arrietty nodded in agreement. She knew that based on the size of the white fridge, they could stay in there for about four hours. Chances were, someone would open it before then. They dashed across the living room and dived in between the fridge and the wall. Then they waited. Sure enough in a few minutes the girl came and opened the fridge. Arrietty and Derek seized the opportunity and jumped into the fridge as it was closing. They scrambled to a ledge attached to the door. Taking a deep breath Arrietty looked around her. The fridge was full of food. Her mouth began salivating at a ridiculous rate. Swallowing, she and Derek climbed up

To the next shelf. Arrietty looked through the transparent plastic and berries in the drawer below. She squealed in delight and promptly clambered into the drawer below. Climbing through apples and peaches, she reached the berries. She pulled open the lid of the box and pulled out a ripe, red, raspberry. The juices exploded across her tongue. _So the saying is true… hunger is by __**far **__the best sauce. _ After eating a few more, crawled back up to the main shelf where Derek was munching on the deli meat. He looked up as she approached. Swallowing, he said,

"So, what's down there?"

"Berries." She replied enthusiastically. Derek wrinkled his nose.

"Anything else? You like meat or bread. Something like that." Arrietty rolled her eyes.

"No, it's just fruit down there." He looked disappointed.

"OK. I guess now there's just the waiting game. We should head back." Arrietty nodded. They quickly descended back to where they had started, but not before gathering a few things to take back. Then the waiting began. After not moving for a while, Arrietty began to shiver. It felt so cold in here when they weren't moving. It reminded her eerily of her latest nightmare. She snapped her eyes tight and attempted to push the thought away as fast as she could. _It was just a dream. Just a dream _ she chanted to herself over and ever again.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked, concern in his voice.

"Uh, fine. Maybe. I just had a bad dream last night." He nodded.

"Ok. Well, hopefully they'll go with time." Arrietty knew that wasn't true.  
Suddenly the door burst open again. Arrietty and Derek jumped out and dove to the side. They waited until it was safe and then raced across the living room and back to the bedroom. Derek organized their new supplies while Arrietty looked for something to wear. As she searched, she wondered, would they ever come out this stage of constant moving?

**Ok a bit of a lame and late chapter. I'm sorry for taking more than a week to update. I just got back from a speech and debate national championship. It was a full week long and exhausting, which is why I took so long to update. Anyway, I need some reviews as always, so please review. IF you have questions in the review I will answer them in the post script. Also I don't own The secret world of Arrietty or any other Studio Ghibli films. I will be referencing Laputa later on..**

**Your Author,**

**~Aza Sira**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

Later that day Arrietty and Derek raided the fridge again and made away with more food. After they had gotten back under the bed. They discovered a wall socket that was just barely held together by some duct tape. Depositing their food they pried it opened hoping to find better hiding place than under the bed. To their surprise they found a borrower-made passage way. They followed it until they came to a door. Light peered under the cracks and shrugging Derek knocked. There was a pause in the conversation that they could hear through the door and a man opened it. He looked very surprised to see two _very _bedraggled teens standing at his door. Derek cleared his throat.

"Umm. Hello? We uh, got here, umm yesterday." He faltered under the man's steady gaze. A woman walked up behind him and gave them a once-over. The man spoke first.

"Very well. Come inside." He stood back from the door and let them in. Arrietty shook his enormous hand in her tiny one.

"Arrietty Clock, sir"

"Marcus Polmish"

"Nice to meet you."

"The same." Derek also shook his hand.

"Derek Wadsworth, sir."

"A pleasure."

The couple led them to a room with a tabled laden with food and drink. Eleven small sets of eyes peered at them from the table. Arrietty's mouth dropped in shock. Eleven children?!

"Please sit down." Marcus instructed. His wife smiled as she poured them both a glass of water. A little girl sitting next to Arrietty tugged on her tattered sleeve and asked,

"Why is your dress torn up?" Her big innocent eyes were strangely puzzled.

"I-I tor it in the creek." Arrietty's cheeks flushed crimson and she became very interested in her stew. Marcus's wife (Who's name was Annie) Saved her.

" Well, that sounds like quite a story. Why don't you tell us how you came here?"

Arrietty and Derek glanced at each other briefly.

"Arrietty, why don't you explain. Your story is longer than mine."

And so Arrietty began. She told how she had become separated from her family in a river. She told how the families in the library had become like family. She even told how Kimi died. Everything was laid on the table. At the end of it Marcus was stroking his beard and Ann was rocking one of the children after all the rest had gone to bed.

"That's quite a story." Ann finally said. "Well, then you both look rather tired. I suppose its time for bed."

Arrietty and Derek nodded tiredly. They were shown to separate rooms. Little did they know that they had found their new permanent home.


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Ten years passed. In that time Arrietty and Derek almost became part of the Polmish family. Arrietty helped Mrs. Polmish with the children. After those ten years, Derek asked Arrietty to marry him. She said yes. Their continued uninterrupted until wandering borrowers began to spread tales of a ice blue eyed and black haired warrioress who could defeat any creature of the forest.

**A/N: Okay that was kinda me just tying everything up because I've run out of story for Arrietty and Derek. This fic was not designed to be romantic in any way form or fashion. Also, send in a review or PM me with whether or not you want a sequel to this fic centering on Kimi. If nothing comes in, then I won't write it.**

**For the last time,**

**Your Author,**

**~Aza Sira **


End file.
